The Root is the leading online source of national and international news and commentary from an African-American perspective. Founded in 2008, The Root offers a unique take on breaking news, provides solid analysis and presents dynamic multimedia content.

On our sister site, The Root, former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele writes about the continued racial and economic profiling that exists in our classrooms.

In the nearly 60 years since the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, we have seen incredible progress. But we have also witnessed a steady decline in the performance and self-esteem of our children as they grapple with a cumbersome and often myopic educational system.

Sadly, far too many students entering classrooms this fall have already been taken hostage by the politics of the moment and a zero-sum mentality in education that serves no purpose. The truth is, there remain inherent disparities in our education system that have eaten away at the very spirit of the Brown decision.

For too long, federal and state bureaucrats have talked about what they want to do for education without an appreciation for what they have already done to education: made it harder to bring our education system into the 21st century.

Although whites experience major depression more than blacks over their lifetimes, it tends to be pervasive and more debilitating for blacks, according to a two-year joint study by Harvard, Wayne State University, and the University of Michigan. Successful treatment is challenging because of blacks’ reluctance to take medication. What’s more, while it’s obvious that depressive conditions affect temperament and disposition, it’s not widely known that these conditions directly impact hormonal functions including the regulation of blood pressure and glucose levels. Ignoring signs of depression could affect your health in ways you might have never imagined.

Lastly, there’s this piece that ran over the weekend about a former drug dealer turned skateboarder.

Where the tour ends, the story of Darren Harper begins: hoodlum-turned-skateboarding-star. A born hustler who left one cutthroat game for another, and used the same attributes — street-smarts and charm and relentlessness — to find success in both.

And it’s also the story — with Harper, now 29 years old, in the starring role — of skateboarding in D.C., the rougher, edgier cousin to the more polished, familiar California style. This strand of the story saw its zenith arrive over the weekend with the Maloof Money Cup, the biggest skateboarding event in District history, which, among other things, brought the construction of a permanent skate park alongside RFK Stadium. Harper was both the main local ambassador for the event and a competitor.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.